Non ferrous pen kits?

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Jwaggz

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I was just curious if anyone knows of some pen kits out there that were made of nonmagnetic metal. I'm an MRI tech and was thinking it would be cool if I could find a clicker kit that I could use at work that wouldn't get pulled out of my pocket when I walked in to the scan room.

Thanks in advance for any ideas,

Jeremy
 
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Best choice for that is get some AL or TI blocks and mill out your own nib, cap and center band. Should not be that difficult and you could do them on the lathe. The problem will be just about everything has trace amounts of Fe and that could be a big problem when ordering the metal.
 
You're going to also have to check the refills.

I just looked at the ones I've got, and the Private Reserve has a ferrous nib. The barrel isn't, looks like aluminum.

The left-over stock refills I've got appear to not be ferrous. Dunno what they're made of, but they don't stick to a strong magnet. Not even the ball.

The spring is always going to be steel. I don't think you'll be able to get away from that.
 
Thanks for the ideas, I don't think the spring will be an issue. The cheap-o bic has a steel spring and it's not enough to be noticeable. Al and or Ti would be great, ideally having the click mechanism and clip being non Fe , along with the barrel and refill. I don't really have the skill to try turning my own Al or Ti parts... Yet that is :-)
 
Have a good look at some of the common pen kits.

There is lots of brass, bits of plastic and stuff.....you may find some of them have very little steel in them and what sttel there is will be stanless, which is not hugely magnetic.

Even the humble "pen 1"...most of it I expect will be brass except for the top part of the twist mec and that is stanless.

Most of the rollerball and gell ink refills are plastic appart from the very tip.

Might be worth poking a few bits with a magnet

Update
I just did that.
Dayacom basic pen kits, the only thing that held a magnet was the clip.

The winner in my box of pens was the Dayacom bullet pen.....even the clip on that would not hold a magnet.

One thing ya might have to look out for is eddy currents and induced voltages......

Of course you could make somthing entirely out of acriliic....but the clip still becomes the problem.

cheers
 
This has been a bit of a problem for me. I make A LOT of pens from aluminum and/or stainless. They work quite well EXCEPT if you make click pens the refill spring needs to made from non-magnetic Stainless Steel or Aluminum. Additionally, Make sure to check the writing tip of your refill, too. Some Pilot refills use non ferrous tips, the cheapest OEM refills are non-magnetic....others, I'm not sure.

The SIMPLIEST MRI pen that I've made is a MODIFIED Berea Sierra Ballpoint Pen-CHR (Berea part number 0502/B-CHR-1). To make this ballpoint NON magnetic, simply REMOVE THE CLIP and change the refill spring to stainless steel. (Be sure to take a magnet with you to the hardware store, as SOME stainless springs are magnetic).

ALL SPRINGS I've found from pen supply houses ARE magnetic as are MOST, clips.

Respectfully submitted.
 
Jwaggz said:
Thanks for the ideas, I don't think the spring will be an issue. The cheap-o bic has a steel spring and it's not enough to be noticeable. Al and or Ti would be great, ideally having the click mechanism and clip being non Fe , along with the barrel and refill. I don't really have the skill to try turning my own Al or Ti parts... Yet that is :-)
Click to expand...

The "Parker" style springs are a BIG issue. Here's a cheat. If the Bic spring is ok, change out the Sierra spring for the Bic spring.
 
Thanks for the ideas everybody, sounds like I should be able to mix and match enough to come up with something that might work.
 
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